Elvis Blondies. (Gluten/Grain/Starch/Egg/Soy/Dairy Free with directions to make Sugar Free)

I love the idea of bacon in dessert.. and apparently you guys do too!

I was surprised how much great feedback and excitement I received when posting my Maple Bacon Chocolate Chunk Cookies & the Salted Caramel Bourbon Bacon Brownies.

I figured why not further explore bacon + sweet. This time I did it without chocolate.

The famous Elvis sandwich had Peanut Butter, Banana and Bacon.

Why not put those same three things in a  Blondie? I added all the flavor into one dessert and managed to leave out a long list of allergens.

These taste fabulous just with the peanut butter banana combo too. Feel free to leave the bacon crumbles off the top if its not your thing.

Peanut Butter Banana Blondies

• 2 packed cups of blanched almond flour. (see substitution notes below)
• 3/4 cup of Unsweetened Peanut Butter (see substitution notes below)
• 1/4 Cup Mashed Banana 
• 1 Tbs Vanilla Extract
• 1 Tsp. Baking Powder
• 1 Tsp. Salt
• 6 Tbs Tablespoons of Milk (any variety) or Water.
• 1/4- 1/2 cup granulated sugar  (see notes below to make refined or 100% sugar free)

Peanut Butter Frosting

• 3 Tablespoons Peanut Butter
• 4 Tablespoons Butter (Use Earth Balance for Dairy Free)
• Up to 1/2 cup of powdered sugar (see notes below to make refined or 100% sugar free)
• 1/8- 1/4 tsp salt (to taste)
• 4 slices of bacon cooked till crispy and chopped.

 

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a small square baking pan with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of a mixer or by hand combine all of the blondie ingredients.  (Note: depending on the variety of sugar that you choose you can use between 1/3 and 1/2 cup. If using cane sugar, or truvia baking blend you will probably need only 1/4 cup- if using coconut palm sugar, sucanat or another lesser sweet variety use up to 1/2 cup. Note that the blondies will taste slightly less sweet once baked than their dough tastes.)
3. Press the dough evenly into the lined baking sheet. Stick a spatula in some milk or water and use this to press the dough into the pan- as otherwise it may stick.  The dough should be thick and sticky..almost like thick peanut butter.
4. Bake 32-34 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.
5. Make the frosting: Using a hand mixer combine the peanut butter, butter and powdered sugar. Sprinkle in salt to taste.
6. Pipe or spoon the frosting over the cooled blondies. Top with crumbled bacon.  (If your frosting gets thin- stick it back in the fridge and it will firm up.)

If you added the bacon store these blondies in sealed container in the  fridge or in the freezer.

Recipe Notes & Substitutions

• Instead of blanched almond flour feel free to use another homemade nut or seed flour. Sunflower seed flour reacts to baking soda and powder and turns green if you surpass a certain amount of baking powder per cup of flour. (I don’t know what this exact amount is and will be toying with this in the future.) This is something to be aware of if you try using homemade sunflower seed flour,  If your not a risk taker- then try using less baking powder in the recipe than I have called for. For the best results use a mild tasting nut or seed flour.
• To make your own Nut or Seed flour: simply run the nut or seed in a high powdered blender or coffee grinder until you have a super fine flour. (If the flour is course- the recipe might not work as well.)
• Coconut flour or any of the starchy grain based flours will NOT work in this recipe. Only use other Nut/Seed flours.
• The granulated sugar can be ANY of the following varieties: Organic Cane Sugar or regular cane Sugar, Sucanat, Coconut Palm Sugar or Granulated Maple Sugar. To make this recipe SUGAR FREE use xylitol or erythritol. I have become a huge fan of the Truvia Baking Blend made out of erythritol and is available at most grocery stores.
• For the Peanut Butter I used Trader Joes Unsweetened- its super thin and creamy. If you use another peanut butter  that is thicker you may need to add a little extra water to the blondie batter. Your batter should end up the consistency of thick peanut butter- so feel free to add an extra TBS of water (or milk) or so if needed to get that thickness.  (add a little at a time, a little will go a long way). If you want to avoid peanuts another nut or seed butter will work. Follow the same guidelines and add a little extra water (or milk) if needed.
• For the Powdered Sugar you can use regular powdered sugar or make your own by throwing any granulated sugar of choice into a coffee grinder or high powered blender. Process until it becomes really powdery. (If it remains at all gritty you will taste this texture in the frosting.) To make this recipe 100% sugar free I powdered the truvia baking blend. You could also this with xylitol or erithritol.  For a low glycemic option try using coconut palm sugar.

-Brittany-